Saturday, June 28, 2008

Even though I haven't watched a soap since Jensen Ackles left Salem, I took a quiz at Shrine to the Soap Hunks that matched me with Thad Luckinbill. I've never seen him on television -- except for one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer years ago -- but I may have to check him out.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

This guy Tyler Davin seems to be the latest ubiquitous guyto hit everyone's 'blog at once, such as here and here.I really like this picture, but there's something about itthat screams "What did you guys put on my back this time?"

I'll explain this somewhat tomorrow, but I'm more than a little heart-broken over the death of George Carlin. And as he is responsible for so many great lines, I thought I'd bring you some of them today. Enjoy.

I think it's the duty of the comedian to find outwhere the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.

Think of how stupid the average person is,and realize half of them are stupider than that.

If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.

When someone asks you, A penny for your thoughts,and you put your two cents in,what happens to the other penny?

One can never know for sure what a deserted area looks like.

If God had intended us not to masturbatehe would've made our arms shorter.

You know the good part about all those executions in Texas?Fewer Texans.

Inside every cynical person,there is a disappointed idealist.

The very existence of flamethrowers proves thatsome time, somewhere, someone said to themselves,"You know, I want to set those people over there on fire,but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Some people see things that are and ask, Why?Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not?Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that shit.

If it's true that our species is alone in the universe,then I'd have to say that the universeaimed rather low and settled for very little.

I'm completely in favor of the separationof Church and State. My idea is that these two institutionsscrew us up enough on their own,so both of them together is certain death.

I credit that eight years of grammar school with nourishing mein a direction where I could trust myself and trust my instincts.They gave me the tools to reject my faith.They taught me to question and think for myselfand to believe in my instinctsto such an extent that I just said,"This is a wonderful fairy tale they have going here,but it's not for me."

Religion is sort of like a lift in your shoes.If it makes you feel better, fine.Just don't ask me to wear your shoes.And let's not nail the lift to the natives' feet.

I have as much authority as the Pope;I just don't have as many people who believe it.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Juan Jose Ballesto.Oooo, doesn't he look . . . inviting?Honestly, I have no idea who this boy is, but I don't care just now.You don't suppose he has some friends under all those pillows, do you?

LATER UPDATE: I did a tiny bit of research and learned that this ponyboy is a young Spanish actor (Spanish for actor = actor) who appeared in a film called The Seven Virgins. If I'd cast him as a virgin, I think I'd have spent too much time thinking about robbing him of that condition. Provided he's old enough, of course.

This morning I realized that the reason I find him so appealing, apart from the obvious, is that he reminds me of this sixteen-year-old that I was in love with years ago, enough years to make it less creepy. He played catcher (resist the urge to pun) on the high school baseball team, and all that squatting and standing up again had given the most perfect ass I've ever seen on a guy. He was a good friend but nothing ever happened between us, though he was among the first guys that I could talk to about liking guys.

A few years later I heard that he'd joined some rock band and began doing heavy drugs, then he seemed to disappear from everyone's lives. Sometimes I still wonder whatever happened to him.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

If I have seemed a bit more inactive than usual lately, there are a couple of good reasons. I have more to do at the new job, AND I've been spending some of my spare time working on another script. I don't even really care that it's not something anyone would ever produce; I think it's just important to finish something for a change.

There's another, less good reason too. Last week I got a membership at Corbin Fisher, and I've been taking advantage of it. Normally I'm not a big fan of porn, but I really enjoy watching these guys enjoying themselves and each other.

I finally made time to drive past the Governor's Mansion to see the fire damage myself. I didn't stop to take any photos -- the one above is lifted from the NYT -- and the people and cars made it hard to see, but I could take in how extensive the damage was. According to news reports, the first floor is extensively damaged, but the second was practically gutted. That much damage to a building that large is easy to see.

Easy to see, but hard to look at. At least hard for me.

Of course, I'm pretty quick to criticize Texas, but I do love the place, if not most of the people, and I love history enough to be fond of this grand building. Built in the 1850s by former coffin maker Abner Cook, our Governor's Mansion is the oldest continually occupied executive mansion west of the Mississippi. Right now it feels like the arsonists who torched it on June 8 destroyed a lot of history, but in the long run they'll just have added to its history. The mansion will be restored, and this fire will become another episode, just like Gov. Hogg driving nails into the balustrade to keep his son from sliding down it.

The arson job was just last week, but the house has actually been unoccupied since last fall sometime. Governor Goodhair and the wife are living in West Austin while the mansion was being extensively restored. The man's luck continues to protect him, like when his wife moved out and the gay rumours flew around town, then just as quickly stopped.

When I talked about this to Tommy, he gave one of his usual smartass comments: he wished they'd burned the Governor and left the mansion alone. And around here, there are lots of people who'd agree with him. But I didn't tell Tommy that: he likes to think all his ideas are exclusively his.

I'm not sure who this Alex Pettyfer is --besides that he's some British pretty boy actor --but his face seems to be all over various Websites lately.Not that I mind: It's a great face.A bit young, of course, but a great face.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Michael Churchill. I realize that most of youhave probably seen these photos somewhere else,but they're worth looking at again, n'est ce-pas?

I couldn't resist playing with one of these photos --okay, I really didn't try that hard to resist --so here's a couple of photos with some of mysuperhero-inspired Photoshoppery applied to it.Looking at them again, I realize they must have been madeabout a year ago: I can do much better now.

This photo represents me and my three sons. I don't use actual photographs of my sons because they are imaginary.

As for my own father, that's not an easy topic to explain. When I was very young, he terrified me with his violent and unpredictable temper and his verbal and physical abuse. Some of you must be able to relate. C'mon, you know the words: "Quit crying, or I'll ..."

Then he died just before I turned seven, so I never got to learn to see any other side of him. In my memory, he's always been just the dangerous tyrant, and for many years that affected how I perceived all men.

I think that's why I like to imagine having sons of my own: so I can do a little mental exploration of how I would do things differently and what kind of men they'd become because of me.

But underneath that is the fear that I'd be more like him than I imagine. We do have remarkably similar personalities sometimes (again, comparing myself to my 6-year-old's memory of him), and I know that one of the hardest things to do in life is to not grow up to be like your parents. Just think of all those things that you, as a kid, promised you'd never say. Then one day you're a bit stressed and you find yourself opening your mouth and your mom or dad's words come out. "Just do it because I said so." It's usually just surprising and a little amusing, but if your father was violent and abusive, it's potentially scary.

So that's why I only have imaginary kids. They're great kids, by the way: smart and funny and a lot more athletic than I ever was. And with imaginary kids there's no downside. Never once have I had to change a diaper or replace a broken anything or fork over allowance cash. No pain, all gain.

Of course, the other big reason is that I much prefer frat boys to lingerie models.

I'm thinking seriously about giving up on Fun-for-Friday .Hunting for these clips is time-consuming,and - based on the comments - I have no actual proofthat anyone's even watching them, let alone enjoying them.

And this is not a whiny plea for more comments.Just please let me know if I'm not wasting my time here.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

A Cause des Garcons has lately been giving us The Best of Athletic Boys, includingthe lovely German footballer Lukas Podolski up above there.There've been four installments so far, andyou can check them out here, here, here and here.

But if you you go there to read about these guys, brush up on your French first.

I wish that I didn't have such a jealous obsession with jocks, lusting after their strong, graceful, athletic bodies mostly because I wish I were one of them. That's one of the childish emotions I wish I could get over.

A few things have happened since my last little autobiographical update, so I thought I'd toss another one out.

First, I was given a hefty raise at work. I seem to have convinced them that I have a wide and potentially useful collection of skills, and the owners decided to pay me more so I wouldn't look for another job.

So now I can afford to support myself again.

Once July gets here, I plan to get my own place, much closer to the job because this 50-mile round trip commute is aggravating and wasteful of both time and gasoline.

I used most of my first larger paycheck to get a physical (first in a couple of years). It was becoming a bit of an issue, because I'd been without medication for high blood pressure for about six months -- The prescription ran out, and I couldn't renew it without a new examination. -- and my pressure had been about 160/110 for the week before the exam. But now I have my medication again, and that's back to normal. I keep hoping that life will calm down enough that I won't need it, but I'm not holding my breath.

There's no other news of importance just now, but that seems like good progress for a couple of weeks.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Katrina and the WavesWalking on SunshineTo get you up and moving this morning, here's an infectiously happy little song. Ignore the 80s hair and clothes, and please don't give me any shit about High School Musical.